February 20, 2013 at 4:59 p.m.
Vote of confidence: School District of Rhinelander referendum passes
Vote of confidence: School District of Rhinelander referendum passes
By an unofficial margin of 3,647 to 2,543, voters on Tuesday authorized the district to exceed revenue limits by $4 million per year for the next three years.
Tuesday's vote marks the second straight successful referendum in the School District of Rhinelander.
District voters approved a construction/facilities upgrade referendum in February 2010.
In December, the school board announced another referendum would be necessary as the district is facing a shortfall of about $3 million for the 2013-'14 school year, $4 million for 2014-'15, and $5 million for 2015-'16.
Passage of the referendum means the district won't have to make massive cuts to electives, staff, and co-curriculars.
School Board President Ron Counter told the River News it "felt great" seeing the results come in Tuesday night. He thanked the community for putting its faith in the district and praised the numerous volunteers who put their hearts into securing a "yes" vote.
"This referendum was a complete community effort from the individual voters, to numerous people who volunteered hundreds of hours and resources working the phones, writing letters, and knocking on doors, to the teachers and the administrators in the school district, to the business and manufacturing members of Partners in Education, to WEAC's (Wisconsin Education Association Council) personnel and resources, to our students' efforts to ensure a positive outcome, and other, numerous groups and individuals who worked in support of their community," Counter said. "Despite the increase in property taxes, Rhinelander should take pride in now passing the past two referendums to support the framework of a successful community."
Although it now has a successful referendum under its belt, Counter said the board still has a lot of work to do, including continuing the search for Superintendent Dr. Roger Erdahl's replacement.
Erdahl has announced he will retire at the end of June.
"Our first major thing we're going to work on is, of course, hiring Roger's replacement. Then, with the preliminary estimates of the governor's budget, we're going to continue to be economically frugal while still giving our students what they need, so we will continue to work to give our students everything they need," Counter said.
District spokesperson Kim Swisher said the community can be assured the district will continue to be fiscally responsible.
"We're greatly appreciative of the community's support on this," she said. "This was an essential step in ensuring that we continue to have a strong school and a strong community. We'll continue all of our efforts and initiatives that we've started with the school district - our PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports), our RTI (Response-to-Intervention), our SAGE (Student Achievement Guarantee in Education) - and we'll remain focused on our children's success and their readiness for furthering their education and with their career aspirations."
"Our school board and our staff will continue to economize wherever possible and we'll continue our cooperative efforts with neighboring districts to change the school funding formula (at the state level)," she added.
Other area referendums
Rhinelander wasn't the only school district with a referendum on the ballot Tuesday.
Voters in Three Lakes authorized their district to exceed revenue limits by over $2 million a year for the next five years.
The Northland Pines School District also approved two referendum questions.
First, voters authorized the district to exceed revenue limits on a non- recurring basis by $2,700,000 for the 2013-'14, 2014-'15, and 2015-'16 school years to maintain district programs and operations.
Second, voters authorized the district to exceed revenue limits on a non-recurring basis by $240,000 to construct additions to existing walls and to construct new walls for fire safety purposes.
Other election results
Voters in Three Lakes narrowed their choices for town chairman and school board. Incumbent chairman Don Sidlowski will face Stella Westfall in April while Steve Garbowicz, Kari Volk, Ann Ovsak and John Olkowski Jr. will compete for two open school board seats. Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Pat Roggensack will have to fend off Marquette University law professor Ed Fallone in April to hold her seat on the state's highest court.
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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